With the holiday season now over and the new year underway, avid gym goers may notice their fitness clubs are more crowded than usual.

As it turns out, there could be some truth to those observations.

Weight loss, along with being a better person, topped the number one New Year’s resolutions for Americans making a resolution in 2018 (at 12 percent), according to a Marist poll. A 2017 survey from Statista revealed that Americans making a resolution to lose weight or get in shape (45 percent) in 2018 was second only to save money at (53 percent).

The staff at downtown Vacaville’s Maximum Fitness are once again enjoying a New Year’s business boom.

“Absolutely,” said Fitness Director T.J. Ramos when asked if he sees an increase in clients at the beginning of the year.

“I would say there’s probably been a 300 percent increase in services just in the last three weeks from New Year’s resolutions.”

“It’s usually pretty quiet in December,” said Gordon Speck, Maximum Fitness membership director. “Right around Thanksgiving is when things get slow but then in January things pick up, and that rolls right into February.”

Apart from the regular hustle and bustle that comes with the holiday season festivities, Ramos has another theory as to why attendance drops in November and December, and why more bodies congregate in gyms in the early months of the year.

“People finally address and analyze what they put in verses what they’re getting out of it towards the end of the year,” he explained. “Then they finally decide they’re going to get some assistance.”

According to Ramos, most novice gym goers are unaware of how to reach their fitness goals.

“The fact of the matter is that most people that come to fitness clubs don’t realize they need assistance,” he said. “They feel like if they move around a bit and eat less they’re going to achieve their weight loss goal, which is typically the most common goal: to lose weight.”

“People will come in here and do the same thing every workout,” Speck added. “I myself am guilty of that. What I would do is come in and hop on the treadmill for 30 minutes, dabble with the weights a little bit and then go home. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you have a goal and want to achieve that goal you should meet with a trainer and they can tell you exactly what you need to do.”

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Like Speck, the vast majority of the Maximum Fitness clientele isn’t an athlete or looking to enter a bodybuilding competition.

“I’d say 90-95 percent of the clientele is just the average person looking to feel better about themselves,” said Ramos.

At the beginning of the year, affirmed Ramos and Speck, the devotion to fitness among gym goers is high, though it wanes after just a few months.

“Ultimately what happens is 98 percent of people who sign up for fitness clubs don’t achieve their fitness goals,” claimed Ramos.

“People get really excited in January and February. Then when they don’t see a lot of change with all the effort they put into it, over the next few weeks they determine whether the effort is worth the experience. Then, instead of determining if they’re doing the most effective thing, they decide to give up.”

“I think there’s an initial enthusiasm when people first join the club,” Speck said. “What we preach is consistency. Don’t burn yourself out by coming here every day. It’s a lifestyle.”

Whether New Year’s resolutions are achieved or not, the enthusiasm for fitness often isn’t maintained long-term, Ramos admitted.

“A lot of people drop off throughout the year,” he said. “Whether they choose to live a fitness lifestyle or not is up to them. The important thing is to get them the information so they can decide for themselves.”

Due to past health issues, 59-year-old Vacaville resident Ivy Houle fully embraces the fitness lifestyle, going to the gym four to five days out of the week.

“Ever since I started doing this regularly, it has helped,” she admitted. Houle said she normally works out in classes at Maximum Fitness, and runs on the elliptical and lifts weights on her own.

Houle’s motivation is staying healthy, she says.

“I’m getting up there in age, so that’s a big motivator. It’s knowing where I was and seeing that I’m now in a better place. That is the biggest encouragement for me.”

For individuals struggling to make progress in their health and fitness goals, Houle has advice — “Make it kind of like a religion,” she said. “Make it part of your routine,” she added. “Do it as much as you can because it definitely has huge benefits. I’m a believer. That’s why I’m here all the time.”

Though individuals like Houle are already back in full swing with their gym routines following the holidays, others are getting back to the gym for a New Year’s resolution.

“My New Year’s resolution was to get to the gym every day,” said 66-year-old Vacaville resident Dale Hurt, who said he hopes to lose 15 pounds in total. “I’m 66 and want to live to be 96.”

To meet his goal, Hurt said he plans on “eating less and exercising more,” through a combination of weightlifting, walking and bicycling. Already, Hurt says he feels his body improving since embarking on his journey.

“It’s easier to wake up in morning, I sleep better, and don’t have the urge for junk food as much,” he said.

For Hurt, dieting is the hardest aspect.

“I’m probably not the health food nut by any means,” he revealed. “I enjoy my TV dinners and going out to eat occasionally, but I try to minimize that and try and eat a reasonably balanced meal.”

Hurt, who said he hopes to meet his fitness goal sometime in the summer, says his motivation isn’t to get “swimsuit ready,” but rather “life ready.”

Whatever the gym goer’s level of dedication to fitness may be, Ramos enjoys the environment gyms have at the start of the year.

“You get to take a breath in December and relax a bit,” he said.

“This time of the year is fun in the gym, though,” he continued. “There’s a lot more energy in fitness centers in the first few months of the year. There’s no better environment to work in.”